On more than one occasion, Tami and Eric Taylor have been praised as an incredibly honest portrayal of marriage on television. And for the actors, that relationship started with the passion they felt for the project they’d just been handed when they walked onto the set of Friday Night Lights.

As Connie Britton explains during episode two of EW’s Binge podcast, “There was so much passion about these characters that we were playing and this world that we were creating. We felt very strongly about the things that we felt strongly about.” And that includes infidelity.

From the very beginning, Britton and Chandler discussed how they wanted to play this small-town marriage, and one of their biggest decisions was about being faithful. “We were like, ‘We’re never letting the writers have us have an affair. If they try to do it, we’re not going to do it.’ And we told them so,” Britton says, recognizing it can be difficult for writers to craft a marriage without any major conflict.

“What we thought would be really interesting and what we thought this would be the perfect format for on the show was to actually show what most couples go through which is just trying to be partners to each other and get through the day,” Britton continues. “They need each other and they also really love each other.”

At the end of the day, Britton says it was about creating a partnership. “This is a show about very simple people trying to get through their life in a way that feels valuable and meaningful. So we decided these two people were going to be partners to each other in that.”

To hear more from Britton – as well as costars Zach Gilford, Gaius Charles, Scott Porter, and many more – on the making of Friday Night Lights, you can listen to the second episode of EW’s BINGE of Friday Night Lights below, where hosts Samantha Highfill and Darren Franich will spend the coming weeks exploring the show that taught us all the importance of a good coach. Subscribe to the podcast now, and be sure to tweet any questions/comments to @samhighfill and@darrenfranich or email them to binge@ew.com. EW’s Binge is produced by EW’s Cristina Everett and edited by Will Malnati of At Will Radio.